Hunters have shot dead the last female brown bear native to the Pyrenees, condemning the species to extinction and causing an "environmental catastrophe" for France, the government said.
Animal protection groups were last night concerned for the survival of the bear's 10-month-old orphaned cub which escaped unharmed, but which was barely weaned.

His mother, affectionately known by game wardens as Cannelle (Cinnamon), was killed on Monday when a group of boar-hunters shot her in what they claim was self-defence.

President Jacques Chirac said: "The disappearance of a species is always a serious loss for biodiversity." The environment minister, Serge Lepeltier, was to visit the site of the killing last night to launch an investigation into how the six experienced hunters had been allowed to organise a wild boar shoot in the area where the bear was living.

"It is an ecological catastrophe because this was the last female bear of the Pyrenean line," he said.

Hunting was banned in the region yesterday and walkers have been stopped from going there with dogs so the cub is not further disturbed. The 15-year-old bear attacked the hunters' dogs out of fright. One hunter fired into the air to scare her away, but another member of the shoot fired on Cannelle from less than five metres to protect himself.

Bernard Placé, president of the departmental hunting federation, said: "He shot in self-defence."